North Anna Power Station

Louisa County, VAPowers 450,000 homes

This facility was named after the North Anna River, which was dammed to form the Lake Anna reservoir and the Waste Heat Treatment Facility. Both have become popular outdoor recreational areas, whose shoreline is dotted with homes, marinas, campgrounds and a large state park.

Brief Facts

About the Environment

A continuous monitoring program shows virtually no environmental impact from operation of the station.

Safety Planning

Additional Information

Lake Anna Property Improvements/Construction and Use Agreement

Dominion Energy requires property owners who want to build any structures or make improvements on their waterfront boundary property to first apply for authorization. The Construction and Use Agreement(pdf) process establishes an understanding of acceptable usage between the adjacent owners to Dominion Energy's shore land surrounding Lake Anna.

A Management Plan(pdf) establishes written guidelines for Dominion Energy's management of the WHTF located adjacent to North Anna Power Station.

If you have questions, contact Peery Agee, North Anna Reservoir Coordinator, at 540-894-2307.

Taking Steps Toward Constructing a New Unit

Dominion Energy is a safe, world-class nuclear operator, and as part of its strategy to ensure adequate, reliable electricity for the future, the company is taking steps toward constructing a third nuclear generating unit adjacent to its existing two nuclear units at its North Anna Power Station in Louisa County, VA. We have not committed to build the new unit, but want to maintain the option to do so to meet projected skyrocketing demand for electricity in Virginia, and expects to make a decision by the end of 2017.

(Above: North Anna Aerial Site Illustration)

We have selected GE Hitachi’s ESBWR nuclear technology, and GE Hitachi has teamed with Fluor, a global construction company, for its proposed Unit 3 at North Anna.

We have submitted a Combined Operating License (COL) application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Nov. 27, 2007. If approved, the COL will give the company permission to build and operate North Anna 3. Approval from the Virginia State Corporation Commission will also be necessary.

The NRC authorized its Office of New Reactors to issue an Early Site Permit (ESP) to Dominion Energy Nuclear North Anna, LLC on Nov. 20, 2007, for the North Anna ESP site near Louisa, VA - meaning the NRC has determined that the North Anna site is suitable for an additional reactor. We applied for the ESP in 2003. View the North Anna ESP.

An Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) study was completed as a condition of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Early Site Permit and Virginia’s Coastal Consistency Certification. The study examines river flows and changes in habitat in the North Anna River under existing conditions and under proposed conditions with a new Unit 3. View the North Anna Unit 3 IFIM Report(pdf).

GE Hitachi's ESBWR Nuclear Technology

The NRC approved a rule on Sept. 16, 2014, to certify GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s Economic Simplified Boiling-Water Reactor design for use in the United States. The rule went into effect 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register. The design certification process provides for early public participation and resolution of safety issues for proposed reactor designs. NRC certification, in the form of this final rule, means the reactor meets the agency’s applicable safety requirements. If an applicant for a nuclear power station license references a certified design, the applicant need not submit safety information for the design. Instead, the license application and the NRC’s safety review would address the remaining site-specific safety issues for the proposed nuclear power plant.

Dominion Energy selected GE Hitachi’s ESBWR nuclear technology for its proposed North Anna Unit 3. GE Hitachi has teamed with Fluor, a global construction company, as a consortium for the North Anna Unit 3 project. The GE Hitachi/Fluor agreement includes a fully negotiated Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract that Dominion Energy and GE Hitachi/ Fluor plan to sign if Dominion Energy decides to build the new unit at North Anna. The agreement with GE Hitachi/ Fluor continues the competitive process implemented by Dominion Energy in 2009 to develop this project under the best terms for the company’s customers and shareholders.

If constructed, the GE Hitachi ESBWR unit would provide the North Anna Power Station with an additional 1,470 net megawatts of nuclear-generated electricity. It also offers a simpler design(pdf) in comparison to other technologies, including passive gravity-based safety features – water stored above the reactor that would flow to the reactor by gravity in the unlikely event of a significant nuclear accident and circulate naturally to maintain cooling of the nuclear fuel.